NGOs Applaud United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Biotechnology Report
More than 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stakeholders in civil society from around the world have signed an Open Letter to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supporting FAO's new report in favor of using agricultural biotechnology to help meet the needs of the poor and undernourished.
Churchville, VA (PRWEB) July 16, 2004 -- More than 40 non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and stakeholders in civil society from around the world
have signed an Open Letter to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) supporting FAO's new report in favor of using agricultural
biotechnology to help meet the needs of the poor and undernourished.
The
signatories to the Open Letter supporting the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) are from countries in both the North and the
South, including India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa, Canada, the U.S., and
European countries in both the East and the West.
This broad support for
biotechnology on behalf of the poor contrasts with some groups opposed to
biotechnology. Those groups expressed their dissatisfaction with the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in an Open Letter
released in June of this year.
Far from "abandoning the poor," as those
groups have suggested, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) report is specifically focused on how agricultural biotechnology can best
be used to meet the needs of the poor and malnourished.
Both the Open
Letter and the UN report acknowledge that "while there are potential risks from
the use of agricultural biotechnology, the potential benefits are both large and
greatly needed, given the challenges humanity faces in feeding a larger, more
affluent population from an already limited land and resource base."
The
Open Letter in support of the UN report applauds the agency for a balanced and
reasoned document and for moving the debate about agricultural biotechnology
beyond polarizing rhetoric toward the question of how best to apply that
technology to help feed needy populations.
To view the Open Letter and
see the list of current signatories, please visit: http://www.internationalconsumers.org/faoletter.htm
For
additional information, please contact:
Frances B. Smith
Executive
Director
Consumer Alert
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite
1128
Washington, DC 20036
202-467-5809
Fax: 202-467-5814
http://www.consumeralert.org
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Source
: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb141644.htm